Protesters in Miami clean garbage from foreclosed homes and dump it at bank

Traci Jackson (2nd R) and others help clean up in front of a foreclosed home on May 3, 2012 in Miami, Florida. According to the Miami Workers Center, the home is owned by the Bank of America. The residents of the Liberty City neighborhood came together to clean up the abandoned property and later in the day planned on delivering the collected trash to a Bank of America branch. Trenise Bryant, a member of the Miami Workers Center who organized the event said, ''Banks maintain foreclosed properties in white neighborhoods why can't they do the same in black communities?'' ''It's bad enough these big banks put families out of their homes, now they just let the houses sit there bringing down the property value for everyone else in the neighborhood.

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Hashim Yeomans-Benford places bags of garbage that had been collected from abandoned foreclosed home in front of a Bank of America branch during a protest organized by the Miami Workers Center on Thursday in Miami, Florida. The residents of the Liberty City neighborhood came together to clean up the abandoned property and later in the day planned on delivering the collected trash to a Bank of America branch.

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Hermenia Nasser pushes a tire that had been collected from an abandoned foreclosed home to the front of a Bank of America branch during a protest organized by the Miami Workers Center.

Private equity firms and hedge funds are eyeing the foreclosed market because the homes can be acquired at a significant discount and then rented out for steady cash flow. While the market for purchasing single-family homes remains stagnant in the wake of the financial crisis, rental properties are a hot commodity and even deemed a new asset class.

One advantage of a bulk offering by a bank is that investors are not required to hold onto the homes for an extended period of time.